by Lola StVil
“I get why you were always broken. I’m sorry I didn’t get it before but I get it now, Dad, please wake up so I can tell you I’m sorry. Please,” he says as he latches on to his father’s hand and squeezes it tightly.
“Dad, I’m not mad anymore. And if you wake up, I won’t be an asshole anymore. I’ll stop being a smart ass, I promise…”
Aaden looks up to the right corner just above his father’s head at the Life-Scan. It’s no longer moving at a snail’s pace; it has stopped moving altogether. And it is now completely grey. Then the Life-Scan disappears. The hour is up; the last Akon is dead.
Aaden cries out as if someone stabbed him; then he bursts into tears. I run to him, knowing he probably won’t allow me to comfort him. I was wrong; he clings to me tightly as the sobs rock his body. I hold on as tight as I can, but I fear it’s not enough to save him from the tidal wave of grief that’s pulling him under.
He repeatedly says the word “no,” as if it will somehow change what has just taken place. His groans give voice to his sorrow and devastation; they tear at my soul. Suddenly the door opens and the rest of the team enters. Everyone except for Bex, who is still bedridden. They hold him tightly and refuse to let go even though he struggles. Soon he gives in and lets us hold him.
Omnis, why? Why did you do this?
I pull away from the team and go over to Uncle Rage. I take his hand in mine and tell him how sorry I am that we could not get to him faster. I tell him that I’m sorry for letting him down. Then from the corner of my eye, I see movement. I look over and the Life-Scan reappears. It’s faint but it’s there.
I don’t call out to the team in case this is all in my mind or worse in case it means nothing. But as I look on, the Life-Scan slowly starts to rotate. And the color we once thought gone forever begins to filter back into the Life-Scan.
“Guys,” I call out in a whisper, fearing if I said it too loudly I would somehow stop it from happening.
“Guys,” I call out again.
My voice is too low and they are too deep in mourning to hear me. Yet the Life-Scan is getting stronger. I pull at Key’s arm, and she finally turns to see what I’m seeing. She is shocked and bewildered to see the Life-Scan reappear.
“Aaden, Aaden, look,” Key says.
However, he refuses to turn, not wanting to see his father’s dead body. Then Aaden hears something that forces him to look over: his father’s voice.
CHAPTER NINETEEN: WITHOUT HIM
“Get this crap off of me!” Uncle Rage orders in a weak voice. The room explodes with cheers and laughter. The twins lunge at the Akon and embrace him. Randy grins and tells Rage how happy he is that he’s okay. Uncle Rage mumbles something about “hating clinics,” but then he sees me. He stops grumbling and smiles.
“Carrot, you organized this rescue crap?” he asks.
“We all did,” I reply as I move out of the way so he can see his son.
“Aaden, you’re a part of this?” he barks.
“Dad, we weren’t going to just leave you in the forest to die,” Aaden replies.
“Yeah, well, not the smartest move. Do you know what could have happened to all of you? You have no idea the shit storm that would rain down on me if your parents came back to earth and found your team died saving me,” he complains.
The team and I exchange a look of bemusement. Although Uncle Rage is acting pissed off, the truth is he’s relieved we saved him. It’s in his tone; he’s trying too hard to sound angry. And when Key places her hand on his, he smiles warmly but then quickly changes his expression back to “anger.”
“Especially your parents, Key. Your mother, Miku, finds out I put her twins in danger and next thing she turns into her alter ego. Then she’s frying my sorry ass on a stick and turning me into demon jerky.”
“We’re sorry we saved you. It won’t happen again,” I promise, trying to suppress a smile.
“Yeah, well, it better not,” he says to Aaden.
“It won’t,” Aaden replies.
“Just don’t do that again. We fought like hell to save your life, your mother and me. Don’t go throwing it away on saving me.”
“You can’t show a little gratitude?” Aaden says, no longer amused.
“Hey, you were top-notch in that battle. I knew you would be. But you have to think about the team and not saving one person,” he says.
“I’ll work on it.”
“Maybe you can work on something else—telling me what went down at this Center the bastard took you to. As soon as I get out of here, I’m burning every fucking thing that has to do with that place.”
“Dad, it’s fine,” Aaden says quickly.
“The hell it is. I need to see my son alone,” Uncle Rage orders.
Judging from the look on his face, Aaden isn’t looking forward to being alone with his dad. But we don’t really have a choice so we leave the room. I sneak a peek at the window to make sure everything is okay.
The first thing Uncle Rage does is pull Aaden into a tight embrace. He isn’t really the emotional type, but in this moment, it’s impossible to ignore just how much he loves his son. The two start to talk but I can’t hear what they are saying. But judging from their body language, the conversation is serious, difficult, and very personal.
***********
Now with Uncle Rage out of danger, we can all finally breathe a sigh of relief. It’s like a massive weight has been lifted off our shoulders. I’m so glad we were able to save Aaden’s dad. I can’t imagine the kind of pain losing a parent can cause.
Thank you, Omnis, for making sure we didn’t face that kind of agony.
Now, the mood in the waiting room is light and celebratory. It just dawns on us that we actually survived the Forest of Remains.
“This half angel is going to get a drink or three,” East says, getting on his Port.
“Hey, can I come?” Randy asks.
“Sure,” East replies.
The two of them take of for some much needed downtime.
“Can you guys look in on Bex? I seriously need to Recharge,” Key says.
“Yeah, go get some rest. Swoop and I will check on him,” I assure her.
We are so happy that things worked out okay we nearly float down the hall and into Bex’s room.
“He’s cute when he’s knocked out. You know, for such a pain in the ass,” Swoop says, only partially kidding.
“He’s going to be your in-law some day,” I remind her.
“You think he’ll ask her to marry him even after the ‘mixture’ incident?” she asks.
“I hope so. Actually, I’m surprised he hasn’t given her his Rah already since they’ve been dating like forever,” I reply.
“Don’t you find that strange?” Swoop asks.
“I guess they wanted to wait,” I suggest.
“Maybe…”
“Swoop, what are you thinking?”
“Nothing. I just know how much she loves him and how crushed she’d be if things didn’t work out.”
“Give it some time; he may get over the mixture thing.”
“You’re right. Bex is madly in love with Key.”
“Exactly.”
Just then, Bex starts to stir. We smile, relieved that he’s waking up. I plan to scold him for trying to take on the Byelle leader on his own after I said not to. But first I want him to know how glad we are he’s okay.
Soon he starts mumbling something. I guess the mixture has made him groggy. We lean in closer to try and make out what he keeps repeating.
“Bex, we can’t understand you,” I tell him.
“Wow, he must have gotten a heavy dose. He’s totally out of it,” Swoop says. Then Bex says something we both hear pretty clearly.
“I want you, always,” he says with his eyes still closed.
Swoop and I hold our hands over our mouths in order to keep from laughing. We’re guessing Bex is somewhere in his head daydreaming about him and Key.
“Stay, I want to hold you.
I need to hold you,” Bex says in his sleep-like state.
“We shouldn’t be listening to this!” I tell Swoop.
“Are you kidding? We should be recording it,” she whispers.
“Bex would die of embarrassment if he knew we could overhear him.”
“That’s why I can’t wait to tell him and torture him,” Swoop says with a smile.
“Swoop, no! C’mon, let’s go,” I reply.
Before she can object, I take her hand and head towards the door. But just before we leave the room, Bex has one more outburst.
“It feels so good to be with you. I love you, Pry.”
Swoop and I stare back at each other; our eyes go wide from shock. Before we can think of what to say to each other, Key bursts into the room.
Crap!
“What are you doing here?” I ask frantically.
“I thought about it and I can Recharge later. Is Bex awake?” she asks.
“Ah…yeah, kind of,” I reply, unable to look away from Swoop.
She runs over to him and kisses him. Swoop and I silently pray to Omnis that Bex wakes up fully and doesn’t say anything…crazy.
“Hey babe!” he mumbles, pulling Key close to him.
Swoop and I exchange a look of relief. Key starts to fuss over him, and Bex insists he’s okay. We leave the two of them alone in the room and go into the hallway.
“What the hell, Pry?” Swoop charges.
“Shhh, keep your voice down.”
“Is there something going on with you and Bex?” she asks.
“What? No! He’s under the influence of the mixtures. He was confused and out of it,” I suggest.
“Pry, don’t act like we didn’t just hear what we heard. Bex said he’s in love with you,” she pushes.
“Bex nearly took my head off when I came back to the team. He hated me for the longest time. And in case you haven’t noticed, he’s in there with your sister and I’m guessing they’re already naked by now. She’s the one he wants. Swoop, please don’t make this a big deal.”
“He said he loves you, Pry. It’s already a big deal,” she counters.
“You can’t tell her. You’ll worry her for nothing. Bex only said what he said because he was under the influence of like a million mixtures the Healers injected him with,” I push.
“Look, I don’t always get along with Key, but she’s my sister and I won’t let Bex hurt her.”
“You know Bex. He’s all about honor and keeping his word. He is right where he wants to be.”
“Key hasn’t been around much. She’s older, but she’s younger in so many ways. Do not hurt her, Pry, I mean it.”
“Swoop, I would never do anything to come between her and Bex. You know that.”
“Fine, I won’t say anything. But honestly, maybe we would not be here if you and Silver could cut the crap and be together. So please go and fix things with him.”
“I’ll try…”
“No, Pryor, enough of this ‘try’ stuff. Promise me you will go see Silver and talk to him.”
“Why is it so important to you?”
“Because the sooner you and Silver are together, the sooner I can stop worrying about you and Bex.”
“There is no ‘me and Bex.’ ”
“I hope you’re right; for everyone’s sake…”
*******
It’s two days later; Bex, Key, and Uncle Rage have all made full recoveries. The Healers tell us we can leave just as soon as they run some final tests to assure their patients are a hundred percent recovered. Knowing that everyone is okay, I head to the garden in the back of the clinic and try to steal a few moments to myself.
I sit on the bench in front of the small koi pond. I watch the brightly colored fish swim around mindlessly. To be honest, I envy them. They have no worries or cares whatsoever. Meanwhile in my life, everything that could go wrong so far has.
I’m elated that we were able to recue Uncle Rage. And once again the team worked really well together. I should be rejoicing, but I’m not. What Bex said took me completely off guard. And even though I tried to downplay it to Swoop, she’s right. Bex saying he loves me is a major problem. I try to cling on to the hope that it was just the mixture, but I can’t be sure that’s all it was.
And what about what Aaden said to his dad about finding a girl who made him understand love? Was he talking about Ruin? Or me? Or could it be someone whose existence I don’t even know about?
I wish Randy were here. I made him go to school although he objected at first. I didn’t say it out loud, but I want him to have more “human” moments. He should try and have a normal life.
“Hey, we’re ready to go,” Aaden says, entering the garden.
“Okay,” I reply, while staying seated.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
“Yeah, how did it go with your dad?”
“I told him less than he wanted to know and more than I’ve told anyone else,” Aaden admits.
“Is that good?”
“I’m not sure. He’s out for blood. He’s determined to find out who is behind the Center. I had to downplay everything so that he’d calm down.”
“Did it work?”
“Knowing my father, no. He’s not gonna drop this. Not by a long shot.”
“Well, he’s right. They deserve to pay for what they did to you. Whatever it was.”
“I just want to forget about it,” he says.
“In the cabin back in Ireland when it was just us and you had that nightmare…Aaden, it was pretty bad.”
“Yeah, it was.”
“And you don’t want to talk about it?” I guess.
“No.”
“Shocking since you’re being so forthcoming.” I quip before I can catch myself.
“What about you? You looked like you were in deep thought. What are you hiding?”
“Just wondering when they will finally fix that stupid bridge so the angels in the light can come back down and some other stuff.”
“I know things are getting…crazy, but you’re doing an amazing job as the leader. Your dad would be really proud of you.”
“Which part would he be proud of? The part where I let my brother die? The part where I lie to the Board and say I don’t know who the Blue Rose heir is? Or the part where I let a demon into their home?”
“Pryor, I won’t lie, things are really screwed up right now. But any other leader would have cracked under the pressure, but not you. This whole time I was making things harder for you and you didn’t need that. I’m sorry,” he says sincerely.
“You were in fear for your father’s life. I would have been the same way,” I promise him.
“The point is I was being an ass and you didn’t let it stop you from leading the team. You really are your father’s child,” Aaden says.
“There’s only two beings who can say that. Me and the biggest evil ever created.”
“We’ll find a way to defeat Malakaro. I have no doubt about that.”
“You trust the Board will find a way?” I ask, hopeful.
“I don’t give a rat’s behind about the Board. I trust you. I know you’ll stop Malakaro somehow,” he says.
“I don’t know if you mean that, but thank you,” I reply.
“I do. And I didn’t get a chance to thank you for rescuing my dad, so…thank you.”
“It was a team effort actually, but you’re welcome. Uncle Rage is important to all of us.”
“I’ve had something else that I’ve been meaning to say. I mean…I should have said it much earlier. I just…I don’t know. I couldn’t.”
I love you, Pry, and I want to be with you. It’s you that is my missing piece.
“Aaden, what did you want to say to me?”
“Happy belated birthday.”
THAT’S IT????
“Thanks,” is all I say out loud.
***
Once back inside, the Healers tell us Bex is fully recovered and we can leave. I head into his room
to give him the good news. I find him and Key sitting on the bed. She has her hands in his. I don’t walk in, fearing I would be interrupting. They look to be deep in conversation.
